Despite the July 13 headline, for many Minnesotans, the opening of yet another 40 miles of ATV trails in our state won't be a "celebration" ("Celebration set for new ATV trail in Aitkin, Itasca counties").
We have seen the closing of wayside rest areas and state parks due to lack of funding. Yet a project that will destroy natural resources and promote noise and air pollution is funded -- with all of us chipping in.
Traditionally, the gas tax has been used to repair roads and bridges. The deplorable condition of our infrastructure these days is partially due to the diversion of maintenance money into frivolous projects. Tax money that was intended to benefit everyone now ends up benefiting one group. The bad economy can't be used as an excuse for our deteriorating highways, not when there are people, as the story phrased it, "with a trailer-load of four ATVs" driving those same deteriorated highways looking for a pristine place to go rampaging through nature. It is not possible to say you are minimizing environmental concerns when you are destroying the natural ecosystem to build trails for destructively heavy, noisy, exhaust-spewing off-road vehicles. And please -- only some of the trails are through wetlands? None should be through wetlands!
The ever-expanding network of ATV trails is alarming and absurd. Our state taxes should be used for basic services; special-use projects should be paid for by users only. The rest of us who can't afford and don't want such things should not have to contribute to them.
Katherine Winkler
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Duluth
